Earthforce Ranks
Earthforce's rank and insignia draws from a number of predecessor militaries in several member states from across the Earth Alliance, without being directly based on any single one in particular. The in fact combine the structures from traditionally separate services - Army, Navy and Airforce - into a single cohesive command structure.The Official Babylon 5 Magazine: Issue 17, p.58 Overview The Earthforce uniforms a color coded according to the branch of the service; blue for fleet, grey for security, brown or green for marines, etc. The rank insignia is usually displayed on the shoulder epaulets, with the exception of non-comm EF Marine Corps BDUs on which the rank insignia is displayed on the upper sleeve. Stat bars are worn by Earthforce officers and enlisted on the left breast, directly underneath the stylised Earth Alliance Badge and denote the wearer's branch of the service. Flag officers bare an irregular star over there stat bar and while most Generals are by definition in command positions, not all of them wear the gold command bar.General Stephen Franklin is seen in Sleeping in Light wearing the brass star over his usual red medical stat bar. The division badge is worn on the upper left shoulder and denotes the wearer's speciality. The exception being the Marine Command patch which is worn on both shoulders of an officer in Marine BDUs.Earthforce Officer in "Endgame" wore patches on both shouldersEnsign Gideon has the patch on left shoulder in "The Path of Sorrows" Pilots wear their division patch on the right breast, as the left shoulder is reserved for their squadron patch. The flight wings patch is worn on the upper right shoulder of the standard duty uniform, or incorporated into the upper left breast name patch on the flight suit. The patch itself denotes that an officer is a qualified pilot and the extent of their qualification. Commissioned Officer Ranks and Insignia Non-Commissioned Ranks and Insignia Other Insignia Image:EF stat FlagOfficer.png|Flag Officer Image:EF_stat_Command.png|Command Image:EF_stat_ExecutiveOfficer.png|Executive Officer Image:EF_stat_Telepath.png|Executive Officer (Telepath - Circa 2267) Image:EF_stat_Commandstaff.png|Command Staff Image:EF_stat_Medical.png|Medical Image:EF_stat_Science.png|Science Image:EF_stat_Security.png|Security Image:EF_insig_Wings-MstPilot.png|Master Pilot Image:EF_insig_Wings-SnrPilot.png|Senior Pilot Image:EF insig Wings-JrPilot.png|Junior Pilot Image:EF_insig_Wings-Pilot.png|Pilot Image:EF_insig_Div_Command.png|Command Division Image:EF_insig_Div_Command-M.png|Command Division (Marine BDUs) Image:EF_insig_Div_Security.png|Security Division Image:EF_insig_Div_Security-P.png|Presidential Security Division Image:EF_insig_Div_Eyes.png|EF Internal Affairs Division Image:EF_insig_Div_Medical.png|Medical Division Image:EF_insig_Div_Eng.png|Engineering and Maintenance Division Image:EF_insig_Div_EFCommand.png|Earth Central Division (Security & NCO) Image:EF_insig_Div_Mars.png|Mars Command (Security & NCO) Image:EFComm wiki.png|Earthforce Command (Starfury Pilots) Image:EF-OffWorld wiki.png|Earth Forces Off World (Starfury Pilots) Image:B5StrFor wiki.png|Babylon 5 Stratigic Forces (Starfury Pilots, 2260 onwards) Image:EFSci_wiki.png|Earthforce Science team (Pilots) Notes * This article includes only those ranks seen or mentioned on the show or from other canon sources, as such there are some gaps where other ranks would logically be (such as Corporal.) * Some ranks, such as CWO and LtJG don't appear to have any specific insignia at all, while some ranks have seemingly identical insignia to one another. For example, there doesn't appear to be any noticeable difference between the insignia for LtCmd and Lt. While the addition of a stat bar can help identify an officer's status, it is not directly linked to rank. * Though no characters with the rank of Admiral were ever named or depicted, the existence of the rank was mentioned twice, in ("And the Sky Full of Stars") and ("Points of Departure"). Behind the Scenes ".]] Prior to Babylon 5 entering full production, a very different set of EF rank insignia and significantly different uniform was used in the feature length pilot ("The Gathering"). Rather than being an alternate set that fell out of use and superseded by the more familiar insignias used throughout the series, later productions that included flashbacks to events prior to 2257 showing second set of insignias and uniforms in use as early as the Earth-Minbari War, effectively retconned the originals out of continuity (just like Delenn's original make-up design and bar tending gorillas.) The original defunct scheme was however described in the Babylon 5 Security Manual.Babylon 5 Security Manual - (p.50) Curiously it lists two separate Insignias for Captains in what a appears to be a delineation between fleet and marine ranks while few insignias (JCoS, Colonel & Major) appear to have been retained in the "new" scheme: - See Also * List of Earthforce Personnel by Rank * Titles and Military Ranks Gallery Image:Captain Epaulets.jpg|Shoulder epaulets of a Captain, 2258 onward Image:Commander Bars.jpg|Stat bar of an Earthforce Commander Image:Commander Epaulets 2258.jpg|The shoulder epaulets of an Earthforce Commander, 2258 onward Image:Lt Cmdr Epaulets.jpg|Shoulder epaulets of an Earthforce Lt. Cmdr., 2258 onward References Category:Earthforce